SourcePOI PET, 2 September 2008 (IRIN) - In a dimly lit room in a frontier town along the Thai-Cambodian border, a man slaps down a card on the table, having bet all his daily earnings as a motorbike taxi driver.
He loses the US$4 he earned that day. To quell his anger, he sniffs a bowl of glue - a daily habit to boost his stamina to work through the oppressive heat.
"How am I going to pay off the police tomorrow?!" he exclaims in a flurry of curses, referring to the daily cuts demanded by the border officers.
Gambling addiction poses a huge problem in Southeast Asia's second-poorest nation, and those afflicted can rarely find help. In a country where 33 percent of the population live on 50 cents a day, according to Cambodian government statistics, gambling is only worsening the poverty cycle.
However, the Ministry of Interior, whose mandate includes overseeing Cambodia's largely unregulated gaming industry, does not even recognise gambling addiction as a problem.
"It [gambling addiction and gambling-related crime] doesn't happen here," said one police commander at the Ministry of Interior in Poi Pet, who refused to give his name. "Maybe in countries around Cambodia, but definitely not here." Poi Pet is a small town along the Cambodian-Thai border known for its casinos.
"If people want to gamble legally, it's their choice," he said. But there are no counselling or mental-health services for gambling addicts in the town.
Poi Pet is home to a special border zone between Thailand and Cambodia with regulated gaming, popular among Thai gamblers, as casinos are outlawed and gambling tightly regulated in Thailand.
The Cambodian government has outlawed informal gambling in Poi Pet. But gamblers claim the police abuse the law, demanding exorbitant bribes when caught.
Savuth, 27, who did not want his surname revealed, said Poi Pet police demanded up to two-thirds of illicit gambling earnings when caught.
That added heavily to the weekly "corruption tax" as he put it, which involves paying another cut to the police just to avoid harassment.
Rock bottom
A thief-turned-casino employee, Savuth claims he was once drawn by the glamour and potential of big gambling years ago in Phnom Penh and lost everything. One night, he promised himself he would play only three times at the city's Naga Casino, but bet $1,500 and his motorbike – crucial to his career as a taxi driver.
As a result, he became a thief in the capital, and developed an addiction to hard drugs. He kept gambling to sustain his addiction and soon lost his house.
His commune intervened, donating $50 a month to his personal expenses until he found a new job. Instead, he gambled it away.
"I went crazy at that point. I couldn't find help anywhere, because everyone was so angry at me," he told IRIN. "And I was homeless."
With his family and friends having abandoned him, Savuth shaved his head - signifying a promise for purification – and succeeded in beating his gambling habit but not drugs. He migrated to the border where, ironically, he found work at a casino.
With a lack of services for gambling addicts, such stories are common. "I've known some people who lose everything, can't repay their debts, and are hunted down by criminals and killed," he said. "Sometimes their children must repay the debts."
Gambling on the weather
Illicit gambling is so pervasive in Cambodia that residents in Battambang and Phnom Penh bet daily on the rain, with wagers topping $1,000.
Such gambling is considered a higher-end sport in Cambodia, according to recovering addict So Sopheap. "It's an activity of richer people," he said. "But it's also an activity where the rich lose everything."
It has spawned underground mafia-style networks. Participants can bet on the minute and hour rain will occur, as well as how much.
"The networks really get you hooked by promising a lot of money," he said. "But the fact is, you can't win this game unless you know weather patterns from observing rain for years."
Sopheap lost his house, property and car. His children had to find better jobs just to support his addiction, but he did not stop until he developed a serious drug addiction and his family intervened.
Gambling fuels poverty in Cambodia
Gambling fuels poverty in Cambodia
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Bumping an old post.
This is still going on. A couple of years back I saw them at the flyover on 271 at RUPP but haven’t seen them there this year. Now in the past few weeks they have turned up and set up camp on a the roof of a building near me.
I’m not sure how active it, how many participants or how you get into it. They drive pretty nice cars, carry massive walkie talkies and get awfully excited when the rain starts.
If I see one of them out on the street I’ll have a chat with them and find out more details.
This is still going on. A couple of years back I saw them at the flyover on 271 at RUPP but haven’t seen them there this year. Now in the past few weeks they have turned up and set up camp on a the roof of a building near me.
I’m not sure how active it, how many participants or how you get into it. They drive pretty nice cars, carry massive walkie talkies and get awfully excited when the rain starts.
If I see one of them out on the street I’ll have a chat with them and find out more details.
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It wouldn't work, only the Rain King can decide if it actually rained or not.Miguelito wrote:I heard they gamble on the rain at Olympic Stadium, with some serious bets as well.
I joked that I should roll up, lose a few bets, then look at the radar on my phone, and place a big one.
http://sea-globe.com/gambling-on-the-rain-in-cambodia/Noh says that people spend anywhere between $100 and $1,000 on a “piece” of rain in a period, with returns determined by the judgment of the broker and their rain-scouts – $15-$20 being fairly standard for an afternoon bet. Betting on dry weather is riskier, but carries a far greater rate of return. Asked how many people in Battambang were betting on the rain, Noh shrugs. “Many hundreds of people,” he says. “Thousands.”
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
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Yeah, you could be standing at the stadium and with clear skies and someone announces that there is rain somewhere on the outskirts of the city.
It’s a bit like roulette. You can bet binary, rain or no rain.
Or you can bet on the time interval when rain arrives.
Apparently you can also bet on the amount of rain, which apparently is how much of a receptacle in a certain place is filled by water - I don’t quite understand how they manage this one.
It’s a bit like roulette. You can bet binary, rain or no rain.
Or you can bet on the time interval when rain arrives.
Apparently you can also bet on the amount of rain, which apparently is how much of a receptacle in a certain place is filled by water - I don’t quite understand how they manage this one.
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The rain started here heavily at 3pm exactly. The guys across the road nearly fell off the roof in their excitement.
I guess someone had 3pm in the sweepstake.
I guess someone had 3pm in the sweepstake.
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Sometime back in the mid naughties (00s) the 440 Battambang correspondent Chhvey Vet wrote a front page articles on rain gambling there (Battambang being the main centre of rain gambling in the Kingdom).
I had a quick look to try and provide a link, but could not find it.
I had a quick look to try and provide a link, but could not find it.
"We, the sons of John Company, have arrived"
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Nah I couldn’t find it either. Probably doesn’t exist anymore. Scobienz’s fault.
http://www.khmer440.com/k/2007/08/chhay ... -gambling/
http://www.khmer440.com/k/2007/08/chhay ... -gambling/
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